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Motorways

Volume 479: debated on Monday 21 July 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the effects on (a) safety and (b) access to incidents for emergency services of the opening of hard shoulders on motorways to general use. (220754)

A detailed safety assessment, including the impact on access to incidents for emergency vehicles, was completed prior to the implementation of the M42 Active Traffic Management Pilot.

All aspects of the use of the hard shoulder as a running lane have been monitored on the M42 Active Traffic Management Pilot for the last 12 months. These early results indicate a significant improvement in safety and a reduction in incidents.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment she has made of the risks to the operation of hard shoulder running on motorways arising from power failures to (a) CCTV cameras and (b) control rooms. (220837)

The hazard analysis and risk assessment for the M42 active traffic management pilot scheme included an assessment of the impact of power supply failures to equipment at the roadside (including closed circuit television) and at the Regional Control Centre. The impact of power supply failure on active traffic management was assessed by the Highways Agency who concluded that there was no case for additional emergency supplies for the operation of the signs and signals.

The Regional Control Centre is provided with emergency power supplies to allow continued operation in the event of a power failure. Any section of the motorway with hard shoulder running operates in fail safe mode which means that a power failure does not introduce any additional hazard.